NURS 8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information Technology Systems
NURS 8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information Technology Systems
Information System Evaluation Discussion
As a nurse practicing in the age of technology, it is important for you to discriminate between HIT system evaluation and other forms of evaluation. As a doctorally prepared nurse, you may have the opportunity to become involved with the HIT system evaluation process. How can you guide your practice setting to meaningfully evaluate HIT systems? What strategies might you employ to assess the outcomes and effectiveness of a HIT system?
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8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information
Technology Systems
To prepare for NURS 8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information Technology Systems:
- Reflect on the information presented in the Learning Resources, focusing on the various strategies used to evaluate the effectiveness of a health information system.
- Consider the strategies you use to evaluate other health care issues. How are those strategies similar or dissimilar to those used for evaluating a health information system?
By Day 3 post a cohesive response that addresses the following:
- Differentiate the process of evaluating health information technology systems from other types of evaluation in health care. What specific strategies might you employ for an information system evaluation? What factors might you examine to judge the system’s effectiveness?
- Assess the main challenges of designing a successful information system evaluation.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.
By Day 6 respond to at least two of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
- Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
- Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
- Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
- Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
- Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
- Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments made by your colleagues.
Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and any additional sources.
Click on the Reply button below to post your response.
This course has introduced many of the benefits and challenges of health information technology systems. You have explored innovative technologies and examined some of the platforms commonly used today. For this final week of the course, you are to consider the most appropriate measures for evaluating new technology systems. As informatics is a relatively new field, so too is the process of successfully evaluating health information technology systems.
In this final week of the course, you synthesize methods and challenges of system evaluation. You complete a final evaluation for the health information technology system or application that you researched in Application 3 and disseminate your findings in the form of an executive summary.
Learning Objectives for NURS 8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information Technology Systems
Students will:
- Differentiate information system evaluation from other types of evaluation
- Assess the main challenges in designing successful evaluations for information systems
- Develop an executive summary that articulates the evaluation of a health information technology system
Photo Credit: Paper Boat Creative / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Course Text: American Nurses Association. (2008). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, MD: Author.
- “Standard 6. Evaluation” (p. 78)
This standard outlines nursing competencies for evaluating informatics systems.
Nahm, E., Vaydia, V., Ho, D., Scharf, B., & Seagull, J. (2007). Outcomes assessment of clinical information system implementation: A practical guide. Nursing Outlook, 55(6), 282-288.e2. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. The authors of this article use their background in informatics and scholarly research to provide an overview of system evaluations for frontline clinicians.
Rahimi, B., & Vimarlund, V. (2007). Methods to evaluate health information systems in healthcare settings: A literature review. Journal of Medical Systems, 31(5), 397-432. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. A detailed analysis of recent HIT literature reviews is presented in this article. Common facets of the evaluation process and end benefits of the overall HIT system are also synthesized.
Wyatt, J. (2010). Assessing and improving evidence based health informatics research. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 151, 435-445. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. The findings in this article provide HIT researchers with impacting factors and suggested criteria to help with the development of research questions, methods, and study designs.
Required Media
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Transforming nursing and healthcare through technology: Evaluating healthcare information systems. Baltimore, MD: Author. Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 11 minutes.
George McCulloch discusses the business, organizational, clinical, and financial considerations for implementing and evaluating an information technology solution.
Accessible player –Downloads– Download Video w/CC Download Audio Download Transcript
Optional Resources
Runy, L. A. (2009). IT challenges in physician practice management. Hospitals & Health Networks, 83(11), 37-43.
Discussion: Welcome to the Week 11 Discussion area!
Post your responses to the Discussion based on the course requirements.
Your Discussion postings should be written in standard edited English and follow APA guidelines as closely as possible given the constraints of the online platform. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources andadditional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure your in-text citations and reference list are correct. Initial postings must be 250–350 words (not including references).
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6
To participate in this Discussion:
Health Information Technology Discussion Week in Review
In this final week you assessed main challenges in designing successful evaluations for information systems and differentiated information systems evaluations from other types. You also developed your executive summary articulating the evaluation of a health information technology system. When you have completed the Discussion for this week, you have finished the course. Congratulations! Please complete the Course Evaluation and submit by Day 7.
Health Information Technology Discussion
Evaluation Process
Health information technology (HIT) evaluation presents a framework for the assessment of designs, aims, procedures and data analysis skills of technologies used in healthcare. The most common approach used for HIT evaluation is the socio-technical approach which evaluates social practices within the organization as opposed to the technology itself. HIT evaluation therefore differs from other health evaluations as it targets other health systems to gain insights on its own. The American Nurses Association (2008) provides means by which an informatic nurse evaluates progress, which is to “conduct a systematic, ongoing, and criterion-based evaluation of the outcomes in relation to the structures and processes prescribed by the project plan and indicated timeline (p. 78)”.
Evaluation Strategies
Strategies involved in HIT evaluation are defined by three dimensions which include domain, mechanism and timing. Evaluation of the HIT interventions or outcomes of the interventions are defined by the domain dimension (Nguyen, Bellucci & Nguyen, 2014). Specific components of the system to be evaluated are determined by the mechanism while the timing dimension considers if the evaluation takes place before or after the implementation of the HIT systems. Based on the chosen dimensions thereafter study questions, data collection methods and analysis procedures become clear.
Factors Considered
HIT evaluation takes into account four major factors which include technology, social, human and timing. Technology is evaluated based on device function and performance through the analysis of software, hardware and functionality states. HIT addresses user needs and therefore the human factor is purposeful for summative evaluations in ensuring safety and effectiveness of the technology in serving users (Jones, Rudin, Perry & Shekelle, 2014). The social factor addresses the impact of HIT systems on organizations. The timing factor takes into account evolution of technology designs, developments and implementation over time.
Challenges
HIT evaluation is based on major factors that determine its complexity. They include evaluation scope, evaluation timing, and units of analysis and levels of analysis. Because the evaluation involves in depth analysis of various elements in the organization such as management, finance, and products and services, it is time consuming (Ammenwerth, Gräber, Herrmann, Bürkle & König, 2003). The various units analyzed also pertain to various areas of expertise increasing the complexity of the evaluation. The main challenges are therefore on the complexity of the evaluation based on time, scope and expertise. NURS 8210 Week 11 Assignment: Evaluating Health Information Technology Systems
Health Information Technology Discussion References
American Nurses Association. (2008). Nursing informatics: Scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, MD: Author.
Ammenwerth, E., Gräber, S., Herrmann, G., Bürkle, T., & König, J. (2003). Evaluation of health information systems—problems and challenges. International journal of medical informatics, 71(2-3), 125-135.
Jones, S. S., Rudin, R. S., Perry, T., & Shekelle, P. G. (2014). Health information technology: an updated systematic review with a focus on meaningful use. Annals of internal medicine, 160(1), 48-54.
Nguyen, L., Bellucci, E., & Nguyen, L. T. (2014). Electronic health records implementation: an evaluation of information system impact and contingency factors. International journal of medical informatics, 83(11), 779-796.